The New Hampshire Gazette And Historical Chronicle

Will now waive the Legality or Illegality of the Stamp Act; my Design is to propose a few Questions relative to the Consequences so much dreaded.

1st. Can any one without Orders for that Purpose appoint Distributors of Stamps in the Colonies, the legal Officers having resigned?

2d. If any one has, or assumes that Power, must not also Under-Distributors be appointed in every County, to provide with Stamps those that may have Occasion for them?

3d. Should any one suffer, for the Want of Stamps, in any remote County, may he not recover from the Chief Distributor, and he from his Constituent, should any Prosecution be carried on after it has been notified in a legal Manner, by whose Authority the Distributor of Stamps has been appointed and by Virtue of what?

4th. Is any one to submit to the Stamp-Act, unless he first knows there is a Stamp-Act?

5th. Who knows that the Pamphlets containing the Stamp Act are better than defamatory Libels?

6th. How must the King's faithful Subjects here be informed of it, if not by a Proclamation?

7th. Have not all the Governors attempted to get something like the Advice of their Council in this dangerous and unprecedented Case?

8th. Have not all the Counsellors declined advising any measure parricidal?

9th. Is the supposed Stamp-Act of a superior Nature to the King's Right of succeeding to the Throne on the Demise of his Father?

10th. Did the L. Govr sign in the Name of the late King any Patents, or other Papers of a public Nature, even long after Instructions had been received to proclaim the King?

11th. Was there any just Cause of accusing of Disaffection those who inserted the late King's Name in all Sorts of Deeds before the Proclamation?

12th. But would it not have been a high Misdemeanour in any one who should have acted otherwise?

13th. Must the Stamps be of such transcendent and magic Force, as to act before they exist; for they do not exist here before constitutional Formalities have given them Life?

14th. May not any Printer, who before a Proclamation of the Governor issued by and with the Advice of his Majesty's Council, stops his Press from the mere panic of the pretended Act, fear the Indignation of the Public, and the Resentment of the Populace; for how will People be made sensible of their Rights, but by the Press?

The BENEFITS of the PRESS to the PEOPLE.

It is the Spring, the Stay, the Support, of useful Knowledge; from thence Genius kindles in the Young; from thence Helps are borrowed as Men advance in Years and Science: and by this Means the Old communicate their Discoveries, and conduct their Rivulets, of particular Experience, into the Ocean of human Wisdom.

It is their Security against Errors; for where there is a Press, (a licensed Press is worse than none) no false Doctrine in Religion, Policy, or Physic, can be broached, and remain undetected. The Vices, as well as the Virtues, the Humour, as well as the Understandings of Mankind, will always prompt them to unmask the Faults of others.

It is their great Preservative against Political Empirism. A Notion may be in Favour with the Vulgar; an Opinion may have Credit with the Great: a System may be devised and established by a Faction. But if the Notion be absurd, the Opinion false, the System iniquitous, the Press will, sooner or later, ridicule, refute, or expose them all.

It is their great Buckler against Oppression. Men may become too big for the ordinary Course of Justice: Magistrates may be deceived; Courts may be awed, and Men, in what Station soever, are always fallible. But the Press will ever afford injured Innocence an Opportunity of carrying its Cause before the awful Tribunal of the Public; which in a free Country, is ever feared.

It is their standing Resource, in case of any unforeseen Calamity; by the Help of the Press the Causes of it will be explored, their Consequences explained, and the Remedy pointed out. For amongst the most corrupt Nation on Earth, some will remain honest; these will be provoked, by public Distresses, and, if the Press be in their Power, will exhibit those Helps Honesty only can bestow.

Ought the People, therefore, to sacrifice, for upon them it will ever depend, the Instrument of Knowledge, the Test of Truth, the Bulwark of Publick Safety, the Guardian of private Freedom, the Treasure of their Hopes, to the Fancies of some, the Fears of others, the Foibles of the present Occupiers, the Weakness of the Aspirers to Power, or the Humours of a—, the Lord, knows who— as Not while they have common Sense.